The Bush administration is working on a proposal before the president leaves office to prevent recipients of federal money from discriminating against health care workers who refuse on moral grounds to perform abortion or sterilization procedures.

The Department of Health and Human Services will issue the rule in the coming days. President-elect Barack Obama plans to undo the rule, but that will require several months.

Obama has said the proposal will raise new hurdles to women seeking reproductive health services, like abortion and some contraceptives. Michael Leavitt, the health and human services secretary, said that was not the purpose.

Others had different objections:

The Ohio Health Department said the rule “could force family planning providers to hire employees who may refuse to do their jobs” - a concern echoed by Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Under the Civil Rights Act, an employer must make reasonable accommodations for an employee’s religious practices, unless the employer can show that doing so would cause ‘undue hardship on the conduct of its business.’